He smiled crookedly at that. "I'm afraid it fell victim to a fire in the town centre."
Her eyes widened as she remembered. "Is it over? Are we on our way back to Lund?"
"Yes."
"But . . . you're still here!"
His smile broadened. "Yes, I'm still here."
"Nylandor . . . is he . . . ?"
"Nylandor is dead," Amrhost told her, quietly, gravely. "He died bravely, and was laid to rest with honour. The people of Hollind were saved."
Julina was silent for so long that Rhia thought she had fallen asleep, but then she said, an unmistakable smile in her voice, "Don't grow your beard back."
Amrhost chuckled at that and leaned close to her. "Why?"
She reached up and touched his face. Rhia could feel that she was trembling, that her heart was pounding. "I think you know the answer to that, Master Amrhost."
"If Rhia wasn't pretending to be asleep," he chuckled, "I would kiss you."
"Kiss her anyway," Rhia said with a wide grin. "I'll even turn my back." She did so, obligingly.
Julina was about to respond, but Amrhost gathered her in his arms, and for a time she was almost able to forget that their world was ending.
Rhia, meanwhile, fell asleep to the sound of her friend weeping quietly with happiness and grief.